Six additional Canadian sailors qualify to be nominated for the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games

Six additional Canadian sailors qualify to be nominated for the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games © Sail Canada

Six additional Canadian sailors have qualified to be nominated for Canada's Santiago 2023 Pan American Games Team following the Princess Sofia Regatta, held last week in Spain, at the last qualification competition for Santiago 2023 in non-Olympic events.

Moreover, a total of 24 sailors also qualified to be nominated for other competitions such as the 2023 Sailing World Championships and the 2024 Olympic Games Test Event.

Sarah Douglas (Toronto, ON, ABYC) in ILCA 6, Ali ten Hove (Kingston, ON, KYC) & Mariah Millen (Toronto, ON, RCYC) in 49erFX, Fillah Karim (Vancouver, B.C., RVYC) in ILCA 7 and Galen Richardson (Toronto, ON-RCYC) & Madeline Gillis (Halifax, N.S.-RNSYS) in Nacra 17 all qualified to be nominated for Canada's 2023 Pan American Games Team by being the top Canadian athlete in their respective classes at the 2023 Princess Sofia Regatta as per Sail Canada's Selection Process, available here.

They will join five other Canadians who have already qualified to be nominated to Sail Canada's Santiago 2023 Pan American Games Team: Emily Bugeja (Vancouver) in women's Kiteboarding, Mac Morrin (Kingston, ON) in men's Kiteboarding, Will Jones (Jerseyville, ON) and Justin Barnes (Pickering, ON) in 49er, as well as Rebecca Heller (Dunrobin, ON) in women's iQFoil.

The Santiago 2023 Pan American Games will be the second opportunity for countries to qualify spots for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The sailing competition will be held October 28 to November 5 at the Cofradía Náutica del Pacífico in Algarrobo, Chile.

Douglas, Karim, ten Hove, Millen, Morrin, Richardson and Gillis also qualified themselves to be nominated for the Canadian team for the 2023 Sailing World Championships and the 2024 Olympic Games Test Event Canadian.

The full results for Canadian sailors who took part in the 2023 Princess Sofia Regatta are available below.

Douglas back to defend her 2019 title

Following her qualification to be nominated to the Canadian Team for Santiago 2023, Tokyo 2020 Olympian Sarah Douglas is now in a position to be able to defend her title from Lima 2019.

"Although it was not my best week of racing, I'm happy to have qualified for the Olympic Test Event and Santiago 2023 Pan American Games again," said Sarah Douglas, the gold medalist at the Lima 2019 Pan American Games who took 17th place overall at last week's Princess Sofia Regatta. "It's always an honour to represent Canada on the world stage and I look forward to being part of Team Canada heading to Santiago, Chile, this fall."

A tight Canadian competition in 49erFX

As expected, the qualification process for the Canadian team in 49erFX was a tight one between the teams comprised of Ali ten Hove and Mariah Millen as well as of Antonia and Georgia Lewin-LaFrance.

Trailing behind the Lewin-LaFrance team by one rank and five points, Tokyo 2020 Olympians ten Hove and Millen started the last day of competition with a penalty, followed by 10th- and 4th -place finishes, which allowed them to end the event as the top Canadian team.

"We definitely didn't make this easy for ourselves," admitted ten Hove and Millen. "We struggled on qualifying with some very deep scores but managed to have two keepers on the second day to get us into the gold fleet for the final rounds. We focused on the variables we could control and leaned on each other and our skills to get the job done. Overall, it's not the regatta we hoped for, but we are definitely proud of ourselves and our ability to perform when things weren't looking too good! We can't wait to represent Canada at the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games once again", added the team, which finished 4th at Lima 2019.

Redemption for Fillah Karim

For Fillah Karim, this qualification allowed him to redeem himself after what he went through leading up to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. At the Princess Sofia Regatta, Karim took the 66th position out of a total of 184 sailors.

"Four years ago, I competed at the trials for the Lima 2019 Pan American Games and Robert Davis and myself had an intense battle that came down to the very last race and a couple of points. When the pressure was on and the stakes were high in that last race, Rob performed and I didn't. I carried that loss with me for a long time, and it was hard to get over the fact that I came that close and then fell short. Having that experience in the back of my mind definitely makes getting the job done here in Palma and securing my qualification that much more meaningful to me. It's been a long road and having the honour to represent Canada at this level is something I feel very grateful for.

"At the same time, there are certainly mixed feelings coming off this event," added Karim. "My performance at the European Championships last month, and then here in Palma, is a long way off the level that I have been performing at in the past, and even further from where I wanted to be at this point in the quad. My coach and I have already started to analyze what went wrong here and we will begin to implement a plan to rebuild for the major events coming up this summer.

"I also want to take this opportunity to recognize the hard work that all of the boys on the ILCA 7 team have been putting in leading up to this event. We're fortunate to have a strong group working together and everyone has been pushing extremely hard. This will raise the level of laser sailing in Canada in the long run."

First Pan American Games for Richardson and Gillis

The team of Galen Richardson and Madeline Gillis also qualified to be nominated for Santiago 2023 in the mixed Nacra 17 event. If their spot on the team is confirmed, it would be their first Pan American Games.

"We are really excited to have qualified our team for a nomination for the Santiago 2023 Pan Am Games in theNacra17 class," said Richardson and Gillis, respectively 21 and 22 years old. "This has been a goal of ours since we started sailing the boat just over a year ago. Our first European event had some ups and downs, but we're pretty pumped to see that we could be competitive in the fleet after making some changes throughout the week. We want to say thank you to everyone who made it possible for us to be here this week."

2023 Sailing World Championships and Paris 2024 Test Event
The 2023 Princess Sofia Regatta was also a Canadian qualifier for the 2023 Sailing World Championships and the Paris 2024 Test Event.

The 2023 Sailing World Championships, to be held August 11-20 in The Hague, Netherlands, will be the first opportunity for countries to qualify spots for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The competition, held every four years by the international federation, World Sailing, will include the 10 Olympic classes.

At the 2023 Sailing World Championships, each country will have at least one entry in each event, or more depending on results earned at the 2022 World Championships for each class. For the 2023 Sailing World Championships, Canada will have the following maximum of entries for each class:

• ILCA 7: 4
• ILCA 6: 4
• 49er: 3
• 49erFX: 2
• Kiteboarding (women): 2
• Kiteboarding (men): 2
• iQFoil (women): 1
• Nacra 17: 1

As per Sail Canada's Selection Process, available here, the top athletes/teams following the 2023 Princess Sofia Regatta, until all entries will be filled, have qualified to be nominated to the Sail Canada 2023 Sailing World Championships Team.

Athletes/teams that have qualified to be nominated to the Canadian Team for the 2023 Sailing World Championships

ILCA 7
Ryan Anderson (Halifax, N.S.-RNSYS)
Fillah Karim (Vancouver, B.C.-RVYC)
James Juhasz (Oakville, ON-BHYC)
Luke Ruitenberg (St. Margaret's Bay, N.S.-RNSYS)

ILCA 6
Maura Dewey (Victoria, B.C.-RVicYC)
Sarah Douglas (Toronto, ON, ABYC)
Clara Gravely (Toronto, ON-ABYC)
Coralie Vittecoq (Montreal West, QC-PCYC/BLBC)

49er
William Jones (Jerseyville, ON-RHYC) & Justin Barnes (Pickering, ON-RCYC)
Arie Moffat (Kingston, ON-KYC) & Samuel Bonin (Toronto, ON-RCYC)
Thomas & William Staples (Beaconsfield, QC) - RSLYC

49erFX
Antonia & Georgia Lewin-LaFrance (Chester, N.S., RNSYS/CYC)
Ali ten Hove (Kingston, ON, KYC) & Mariah Millen (Toronto, ON, RCYC)

Kiteboarding (women)
Emily Bugeja (Vancouver, B.C.-RVYC)
Marie-Ève Mayrand (Calgary, AB)

Kiteboarding (men)
Mac Morrin (Kingston, ON-KYC)
Logan Sutherland (Toronto, ON)

Nacra 17
Galen Richardson (Toronto, ON-RCYC) & Madeline Gillis (Halifax, N.S.-RNSYS)

Paris 2024 Test Event

As was the case for previous Olympic Games, a test event will be held for each of the 10 Olympic classes, one year prior to the start of Paris 2024, July 9-16, 2023, at the official venue in Marseille. The Test Event is a great opportunity for all sailors around the world vying for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games to experience the conditions that they will encounter at the 2024 Olympic venue, in addition to competing against the best in the world.

And as will be the case at the Olympic Games, only one athlete per class per country will be allowed to compete at this event. Canadian sailors were able to qualify to be nominated to Sail Canada's Paris 2024 Test Event Team by being the top Canadian team/athlete at the 2023 Princess Sofia Regatta as per Sail Canada's Selection Process, at available here.

Athletes/teams qualified to be nominated to the Canadian Team for the Paris 2024 Test Event

49er
William Jones (Jerseyville, ON-RHYC) & Justin Barnes (Pickering, ON-RCYC)

49erFX
Ali ten Hove (Kingston, ON, KYC) & Mariah Millen (Toronto, ON, RCYC)

Kiteboarding (men)
Mac Morrin (Kingston, ON-KYC)

Kiteboarding (women)
Marie-Ève Mayrand (Calgary, AB)

ILCA 6
Sarah Douglas (Toronto, ON, ABYC)

ILCA 7
Fillah Karim (Vancouver, B.C.-RVYC)

Nacra 17
Galen Richardson (Toronto, ON-RCYC) & Madeline Gillis (Halifax, N.S.-RNSYS)

Canadian sailors results at the 2023 Princess Sofia Regatta

Here are the results for Canadian sailors who took part in the 2023 Princess Sofia Regatta:

49er (/99)
56. William Jones (Jerseyville, ON-RHYC) & Justin Barnes (Pickering, ON-RCYC)
62. Arie Moffat (Kingston, ON-KYC) & Samuel Bonin (Toronto, ON-RCYC)
85. Thomas & William Staples (Beaconsfield, QC) - RSLYC

49erFX (/60)
19. Ali ten Hove (Kingston, ON) & Mariah Millen (Toronto, ON) - Kingston YC/RCYC
23. Antonia & Georgia Lewin-LaFrance (Chester, N.S.) - RNSYS/CYC

Kiteboarding (men) (/115)
66. Mac Morrin (Kingston, ON-KYC)
83. Logan Sutherland (Toronto, ON)

Kiteboarding (women) (/53)
42. Marie-Ève Mayrand (Calgary, AB)
44. Emily Bugeja (Vancouver, B.C.-RVYC)
46. Nataliya Leshko (Toronto, ON)
51. Martyna Dakowicz (Oakville, ON)

ILCA 6 (/107)
17. Sarah Douglas (Toronto, ON, ABYC)
47. Clara Gravely (Toronto, ON-ABYC)
57. Coralie Vittecoq (Montreal West, QC-PCYC/BLBC)
73. Maura Dewey (Victoria, B.C.-RVicYC)

ILCA 7 (/184)
66. Fillah Karim (Vancouver, B.C.-RVYC)
86. James Juhasz (Oakville, ON-BHYC)
104. Ryan Anderson (Halifax, N.S.-RNSYS)
106. Luke Ruitenberg (St. Margaret's Bay, N.S.-RNSYS)
119. Liam Bruce (Oakville, ON-Port Credit YC)
121. Ben Flower (Tobermory, ON-Tobermory YC)
152. Norman Struthers (Toronto, ON-RCYC)
166. Daniel Connors (Upper Tantallon, N.S.-RNSYS)

Nacra 17 (/52)
47. Galen Richardson (Toronto, ON-RCYC) & Madeline Gillis (Halifax, N.S.-RNSYS)

More information is available on Sail Canada website at www.sailing.ca.